Gateway extends remote learning for high school, Evergreen Elementary for a week

Gateway administration extended its remote learning model another week for some students as staff in two buildings have either tested positive for covid-19 or are in quarantine from being exposed to the virus.

Gateway High School and Evergreen Elementary School will continue with remote learning through Jan. 26. The rest of the district began its hybrid learning model on Tuesday.

The entire district was slated to return to a hybrid learning model starting Jan. 19 after moving to a remote learning model Nov. 23.

The switch back to a hybrid model – where students alternate between two days in the class and three days at home – was supposed to happen on Dec. 4. That date was extended through Jan. 4 as cases continued to climb in Allegheny County.

The Jan. 4 date was extended again through Jan. 19 as a precaution against spreading the virus after potentially being exposed to it over the holidays.

District administration was not immediately available for comment.

Board member Rick McIntyre said there are around 10 staff members between both buildings who are affected by a quarantine. He said around two people have tested positive for covid-19. He declined to offer more specifics.

He said the district is still committed to bringing students back into the classroom for full, in-person learning, but that the schools are bound by restrictions and guidelines coming from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

“If we were to put all our students in the building, it wouldn’t be physically possible to follow the social distancing guidelines,” he said.

He said some of those restrictions could “loosen” if all district staff members are able to get the vaccine.

Superintendent Bill Short addressed that during his report to the board on Tuesday.

He said he’s been in contact with Mark Rubino, president of Forbes Hospital, who said teachers are next in line to receive the vaccine after first responders.

“I’m simply waiting for that phone call,” Short said. “We have the list prepared. Teachers will be first on that list.”

Rubino deferred questions to Allegheny Health Network, which was not immediately available to respond.

Educators inside school buildings fall into Phase 1B of the federal and state guidelines for the vaccine’s priority groups. As the next phase moves in, most teachers and administrators have gotten little guidance on how to move forward.

The confusion among educators only grows with the knowledge that some area districts have already arranged vaccinations for teachers recently. Ligonier Valley School District already vaccinated 182 employees. And Greater Latrobe School District expects to have the majority of its staff vaccinated by the end of the month.

For additional information on the state’s phases on vaccination, visit its website.

Board president Brian Goppman acknowledged the district’s “rocky start” to going back to a hybrid learning model but reiterating the district’s goal to getting back to in-person learning.

“We will get back to it completely,” he said, adding in an emailed statement his confidence that “administration is working each and every day to evaluate where we are and how to get to our goal safely.”